California's best medical marijuana dispensaries are clean, safe, and polished. The places that grow the weed they sell are not. This proposed pot factory would produce $50 million of weed annually in an super-sterile, eco-friendly environment. Sounds good to me.

The 60,000 square foot factory is part of a proposal by Gropech, a non-profit group that's hoping to get a permit from the Oakland City Council in coming months. Talking to The Atlantic, co-founder Derek Peterson pointed out that California legitimized the sale of marijuana while leaving its production to illicit farms and repurposed garages.

The laws in California were sort of backward because they addressed retail sales before wholesale production...It would be like if you built a bunch of liquor stores, and only afterward built distilleries.

Thus, Gropech contends, California's medical cannabis is hardly medical, potentially containing pesticides, bugs or mold that could be harmful to users (try not to dwell on that the next time you're medicating.) Gropech says their factory will be built to "medical laboratory standards," which they pronounce "lab-or-a-tory," ensuring healthy weed that actually deserves the distinction of being called medicine. Oakland City Council, make this happen. [The Atlantic]